TITLE
Recommendation to request City Manager to schedule a study session before the 2012 budget process is completed that discusses: the collective bargaining laws which the City must follow and how the City could make the collective bargaining process more transparent to the public, including but not limited to, adopting the transparency process utilized by the Long Beach Unified School District.
DISCUSSION
There is much discussion about what the City of Long Beach should and shouldn't do regarding the salary, benefit and pension obligations it has incurred through collective bargaining. The City of Long Beach is constrained by state laws requiring what it can and cannot do under collective bargaining laws with its employee groups.
The process of collective bargaining has a great impact on how the City can budget.
Additionally, the public has called for transparency in the process of collective bargaining so that it can understand what the city does when it bargains and the economic impact of the contracts negotiated and have an opportunity to weigh in before the City Council approves such contracts.
School districts are mandated under state law to provide transparency in their collective bargaining at the beginning and throughout the process so that taxpayers are aware of what their governmental officials are agreeing to with the employee groups before such agreements are ratified. Additionally, school districts are required to disclose the financial impact of a negotiated contract so that the public knows how much such contracts cost.
The City of Long Beach needs to explore how it can make the process of collective bargaining more transparent to the public.
SUGGESTED ACTION
Approve recommendation.
Respectfully Submitted,
GERRIE SCHIPSKE
COUNCILWOMAN, FIFTH DISTRICT